The Affordable Care Act, in a nutshell

With the sign-up period for the Affordable Care Act starting Oct. 1, Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post has set out to break down Obamacare into bite-sized chunks, or, as she calls them, KliffNotes. The first one tackles the health insurance marketplaces — who will use them (about 23 million people, or 7 percent of the population), how they fundamentally work (think a more complicated Expedia or Travelocity), and why they were created — all in two minutes. Here you go:

Jay Jochnowitz

17 Responses

#1 I agree but it was created partly to force people who don’t need insurance to buy it or pay a fine to pay for those who use too much or more than the average or those who can’t afford it, instead of being funded by the government.

It should be unconstitutional to force healthy people in their 20’s-50’s to purchase insurance.

The Supreme Court disagrees with you Ann, on the premise that the need for health care is something that we as humans can not opt out of. We can choose not to drive, we can choose not to insure the belongings in our our apartments.

We cannot however choose not to receive health care when we are severely ill.

When one of those so called ‘healthy’ 20 to 50 year olds gets very sick or injured as statistically we know a great many of them will, then the burden falls on the taxpayer or the already insured through higher medical bills and premiums.

Roberts of the Supreme Court re-wrote ObamaCare calling it a tax which as you may recall nobody said it was. Still, Roberts or Obama or Reid or even the whole government should not be able to force a person into buying something they do not want to buy. That is not America. And with regards to everybody paying for someone else injury or surgery, the same applies people should not be forced to do that. Somebody else is sick so the government steals your money to help pay for that bill.. government should stay out of the theft business.

Paying for health insurance before you need it is akin to putting money in a 401K for retirement. You might not get catastrophically sick when you are 20, but you will someday. One hospital visit for the birth of a child will cost more than five years of the insurance premium. And that’s not including any ER time or ambulance transport.

#3 it costs far less to pay out of pocket for an unexpected trip to the ER than years of insurance.

Insurance costs are out of control. Obama put the cart before the horse and dictated everyone buy insurance prior to regulating insurance so that people aren’t being fleeced.

To get insurance if your place of work doesn’t offer it -such as all those hundreds here in Albany working as “temps” for the state -cost about an arm and covers nothing. Not one thing. Same with COBRA.

Insurance needed to be overhauled first. Regardless it is a violation of freedom, whether it’s better for the poor and unhealthy or not. By the way insurance was already free and available to the poor.

One trip to the ER without insurance can cost $50,000 (including the ambulance, scans, medications, doctors, etc). The annual insurance premium for a single person is just shy of $800. So one trip to the ER (unsubsidized) is more than 50 years of insurance. More importantly, assisted living care, at the highest functioning level, is more than $2000 per MONTH. So when you get old and poop in a diaper, then you want healthcare?

If you think it is a violation of your freedom, don’t get it. Just sign a waiver that you will never change your mind if you get a cancer diagnosis, or need subsidized care for dementia. Why should the rest of us pay for your years of living fat, dumb, and happy, and not putting any money in the system?

And as for “covers nothing” – all preventative care is free, including well-child checkups and vaccinations. It also covers all contraception, which impacts your taxes for Medicaid, welfare , and school taxes… The current New York insurance covers all the costs of cancer treatment, minus the co-pay (which is on par with what employer based systems have now). It covers ambulance services, emergency care, and ICU. Sorry, but that’s more than “one thing” just there. Rant all you want, but data is data. and data shows that this system in Mass. is already making a difference in both cost of care and health care outcomes. Hmmm, live longer, live healthier, and pay less; you’re right – that is a disaster!

The biggest farce is calling it the Affordable Care Act. My insurance has gone up around 25% in the last four years since Obamacare was passed and it will be going up again this year. The only people who may pay less will be those that opt for the Bronze plan with a $6700 annual deductible.

Consider your car insurance. What do you think it would cost if insurers were forced to provide coverage after you wrecked your brand new car?? Do you really think the premiums would decrease??

‘#3 it costs far less to pay out of pocket for an unexpected trip to the ER than years of insurance.’
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Um. Yeah, if you break a wrist. Not so much if you get in a motorcycle accident, have a heart attack or are diagnosed with cancer. Things that tend to happen a lot, even to previously healthy 20 to 50 year olds.

‘Insurance costs are out of control. Obama put the cart before the horse and dictated everyone buy insurance prior to regulating insurance so that people aren’t being fleeced.’
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The government has been trying to regulate insurance for years to no avail because of strong lobbying interests. When everyone is insured, everyone wins. It’s a no brainer.

‘To get insurance if your place of work doesn’t offer it -such as all those hundreds here in Albany working as “temps” for the state -cost about an arm and covers nothing. Not one thing. Same with COBRA.’
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Yes. Hence the need for the exchanges and government subsidies. Again, it only works if everyone buys in.

‘By the way insurance was already free and available to the poor.’
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The poor on medicaid aren’t the problem. The problem are those who live just above the poverty line who couldn’t afford insurance, weren’t provided insurance by the crappy employers, and if they did spring for it, had virtually no coverage as note above. Let’s also not forget the folks who had pre-existing conditions who were simply denied coverage in the first place. You know, the folks who need it most.

‘That is not America. And with regards to everybody paying for someone else injury or surgery, the same applies people should not be forced to do that.’
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Uh huh. What would you have those who are uninsured and cannot afford to pay for medical expenses do? Simply die or allow their injuries and sicknesses to go untreated? Bad enough they can’t get preventive care.

Troy Taxpayer, I think we do have an obligation to take care of each other and need to find ways to do it voluntarily and not by brute force. The Feds are getting too much power and control in our lives.

Damn, I only with the Tea Party was around when I first started to drive and didn’t want to get insurance….
I’ve been paying north of $1,000 per year for car insurance for the past few decades and have NEVER had a major claim, except for the one time a bird flew headfirst into my windshield and I needed new glass.
So where is MY refund. I was forced to pay for car insurance but never needed it. I want my money back and I don’t care about all those other people who have had car crashes. I wasn’t at fault so why should my money go to pay to have their cars fixed.
Government so greedy, they want citizens to help each other….

A few differences … Liability auto insurance is required by the state, not the Feds.. Second, if you don’t drive you don’t have to pay. And we really don’t know everything about ObamaCare yet have you seen the reports of the huge deductibles ?

Mert: We already have a voluntary system and it sucks. Your side got fat off that system. The AHCL lowers single-payer health costs…but of course the GOP wouldn’t want all those poor people healthy, they might go the voting booths on election day!

Based on your premise, then auto insurance should be voluntary as well. Funny how the GOP thinks we should be forced to take better care of our cares than for ourselves, or our neighbors.

If we only had a “voluntary” auto insurance requirement, then those people who wanted auto insurance would be paying through the nose for it. The same principle applies to health care.